SCD005: Turning A Passion Into A Business – Insights From A Mumpreneur

Show Notes

Melissa Woodward is one of my very first clients. When we first met she was working from home as a remedial massage therapist. Today she runs her own clinic with 4 treatment rooms and 3 staff.

In this episode she shares how she has used digital tools to successfully grow her business to have the life she wants.

About Our Guest

Melissa Woodward is a remedial massage therapist, personal trainer, and an inspiring mumpreneur. She is the business owner of Campbelltown based Evolution Health Services.

On Going Digital

When Melissa started her business, she realized that she “needed to get found.” A week after her website was launched, the phone started ringing and online booking started soon after. Eighty percent of her clients came from Google. Indeed, she found the value in going digital. In this interview, she also shared challenges and how she overcome them when she was starting digital.

On Starting Your Own Business

Melissa believes that if you believe in your passion, other people will believe it too. Go out and share your passion, as she said, “don’t be afraid to put yourself out there”.

Show Links

Transcription

00:04

[Intro]

Hello. I’m Serena dot Ryan and welcome to the See Digital Clearly show. This show is dedicated to inspiring action. Each episode, there is an interview with the forth-later doing great things for digital. They will share their insights and experience to get you inspired and focused to create the life you want thanks to digital.

In this episode, Melissa Woodward from Evolution Health Services joins me. A little over three years ago, Melissa started her business with an idea. She wanted to create a job for herself as a massage therapist. Now she is proudly a multi-award winning business owner with an established office premises and employees. She shares with me today her motivation, why she actually uses digital, and incredibly how she overcome her biggest challenge to use digital effectively to create the life she wants.

01:05

S: Wow i can’t believe it. This is so exciting to be able to find the time for us to be in the same room and have a chat.

M: Yes.

S: Today I have the lovely Melissa Woodward from Evolution Health Services. And she is going to share with us her insights of being a business owner, and how on earth she has used digital to create the life she wants. So welcome Melissa.

M: Thank you for having me Serena, I look forward to sharing some advice maybe with people and some story of how I got here.

S: Wonderful. You know, for me it’s been incredible to see your journey as a business owner. Being one of my very first clients when I’m starting my business. It’s been something for me to see how you’ve looked at what you need and how you can use it to effectively get what you really want. So I want to ask you. Where it began really. What did you want to be when you grow up?

M: As a kid you’ll go through the usual I want to be a hairdresser because I like playing with hair but through high school I want to be a chef because, I don’t know why I want to be a chef.

S: Like food maybe?

M: Because I was cooking at home for the family I don’t know. Then I realized, no I don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen stinking hot kitchen on my nights and weekends and on my family and friends are having a life so I said want to be a physiotherapist. In my last few months of high school, which wasn’t advisable, I had pretty good marks. But should I become a physio? And I hadn’t really applied for uni or put the effort in to get that high level of mark. So I just really wanted to do the hands on part and I found massage therapy was the way to go. So that’s where it all started. And I’ve been a massage therapists ever since high school.

03:13

S: And how many years was that?

M: Really, you really want to know? Well so I’ve been qualified now for nearly 15 years.

S: Wow.

M: Yes.

S: So great, you’re qualified as a massage therapist. However your business where it is currently in now, it started, about 3 years ago?

M: Yes.

S: So you’ve done a few other things along the way or were you always doing massage therapy?

03:47

M: No. So, when I first started as a massage therapist my first job was with physio, and after being there for a while we discussed adding exercise class. Looking at how to get qualified so I could run fitness classes within the physio clinic and then started studying way back then, it’s like 2003 so it took me ten years to actually get qualified as a personal trainer because my kids getting in the way.

S: But you went back to it.

M: Yes.

S: It’s something, ten years many people would have given up.

M: Yeah, but I guess it was just had the passion I had for it. Like a really enjoy health and fitness, and yeah, I don’t know it’s just one of those things I got into a bad pattern of not finishing things, and something changed, I just decided I need to finish everything. So I’m almost now retracing my steps and locate what have I not finished and I’m going to go back and finish it.

04:52

S: So what would have been that thing that you think helped flicker the switched, so to speak, to finish things.

M: Probably meeting my husband. So we met in work as totally unrelated to health and fitness but we both discovered that were passionate about health, he had also tried studying fitness, he hadn’t quite finished it himself, so he one day said “Yeah I want to go and get my qualification” and he was like “hey do you mind if we do it together?”

S: That’s like dating

M: Yeah, so, so we did. So we studied, most of it was online but yeah we had a face to face, we did it around full time work then I was about 15 weeks pregnant when I did my final exam. It was kind of that push where “oh crap we need to get it done now.” So I suppose it’s maybe it’s my son as well, that was like okay we need to actually finish things, not just half do them and waste time and money.

05:57

S: Absolutely. So when did you first learn the value of digital marketing?

M: Um, I’ve used Facebook personally over the years, but never really understood how it works. And when I first became a massage therapist, there was barely, there was no social media there was barely any websites, easily accessible websites. It was like a big change when I was coming back into business. It’s like, okay, well I need to get found. So that’s when I got in touch with you to figure out how to get started. But I think, that very, a week after we launch my website, going live, was when I noticed the value.

Because I actually had a measure, of what we’ve been doing to see that all the effort that we’ve been putting in the background had turned into me being on page one of Google. So it was just seeing that I could be found by other people. And you know the phone started ringing after that, and online booking started soon enough. So, yeah that was this, I suppose having a measure and seeing it in action that I really noticed it worked.

07:07

S: So it’s actually getting the fight in the ring.

M: Yes, yes.

S: That’s good, that’s interesting. It’s like for you, you’re tipping point though to actually get to having made you decide that you actually needed the website. Was it there anything in particular that you went, okay that’s why I need it?

M: Uh, I think getting back into business, it was like yeah you have to have a website. Like in this day and age you just gotta have one. So I built my own. I did not understand what SEO was I laughed because In the boxes in the background I was just typing random keywords because that’s what I thought it did. So after working with you I actually realized what you’re supposed to put in there. And it was amazing the difference, seeing that my website actually ranked and was found, you won’t be seeing me out there for me to tell people I’ve got a website, but then actually yeah people find it.

08:07

S: Thank you, I appreciate that what I’ve done is actually being valuable for you.

M: Yes.

S: Awesome. So, what have you found most challenging now you’ve got your business up and running and digital is working for you, what really do you find is hard?

M: Um, getting over my fear of judgement. So I get a bit concerned that if I put something out there that people are going to say, no that’s wrong. And that’s, yeah, really like I’ve decided to get over it myself and just do it. And realized that I’m putting my opinion out there my knowledge my experience I’m not writing some scientific research paper that needs peer review and approval like, I’m just putting my opinion and knowledge out there so yeah

S: Wow

08:59

M: That’s something to get over for me. Just really fearing judgement. Even putting myself out there, so being an outdoor fitness trainer, and seeing other trainers around like, I get quite intimidated because I’ve been in a situation in the gym where other trainers used to, kind of mock each other or say “Oh you’re doing it wrong” and always criticizing, so yeah you kind of get out there and “Oh my God’s people are going to criticize me and what I’m doing with my people.” So, it’s taken a bit of, I do know what I’m doing and that it’s okay I can do it.

S: Its, a, often I can say that actually hold people back feeling like that. So well done you for actually getting in there and doing it anyway.

09:53

M: Yep.

S: Because I do see, you know, I said at the beginning of this podcast as well, that’s you are one of my first clients and naturally I want to check out what you’re doing online and I like watching what people do to see that they’re giving it a go. And often people don’t even give it a go in the first place because of that fear of judgement. So well done!

M: Thanks

S: So, where do you see yourself in ten years?

10:22

M: Um, probably on my first holiday in ten years. Well, I’m coming up to two years now but still haven’t had a honeymoon. So I hope that maybe in 10 years we will have an approved holiday or honeymoon. But, no as far as the business goes, there is still lots of potential in growth that can happen in here. So we’ve got a nice big space to fill. So I just hope to see that I continue to grow and bring on more staff fill up these rooms, fill up the classes. Yeah, lot more growth I think.

S: Wonderful. Love to look forward to.

M: Yeah.

11:06

S: What advice would you give to someone wanting to start their own business?

M: So this one, I would say don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and share your passion. If you can share your what it is you are passionate about, if you believe it, and then other people will believe it too. And that will connect with you, and I think that’s the main thing you need to do. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, as long as you’re willing to put yourself out there in one way or another, I think that’s the best thing you can do.

S: Well said. Thank you so much for your time today.

M: No worries.

S: That’s really meant a lot for you to share your insights. And to see you grow from being a startup to a fully pledge business with employees is an incredible thing to see.

M: Yeah. I still get a bit blown away that I’m actually doing employee stuff. I have to remind myself I’m the boss sometimes.

12:02

S:Yes, it’s great for you to share your insights. And hope that people can learn and be inspired to go out and, yeah give things a go.

M: Yep, I think that’s what we need to do. Get out there and try. What’s the worst thing that can happen?

S: That’s the spirit! Thanks Melissa.

M: No worries.

[Outro]

Thanks for listening. The best time for you to take action is now. Get out there and use digital for what it’s intended for. To make your life a better one.